


Beyond Land and Sky

by Kay (sincere)



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Backstory, F/M, Fluff, Headcanon, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-09
Updated: 2013-05-09
Packaged: 2017-12-10 20:53:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,835
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/790050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sincere/pseuds/Kay
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Thor insists on looking after Sif when she's wounded in battle. But some wounds cannot be treated with bandages. There's other treatments for those, if you know how.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Beyond Land and Sky

**Author's Note:**

> Filling an anonymous prompt on Tumblr, "Sif/Thor where Thor is bandaging Sif's wounds," or something along those lines. Anon, you are completely right, there isn't enough for this pairing. You are a person after my own heart. I hope you enjoy this!

When the last enemy fell, Sif almost followed him, unable to keep herself from swaying on her feet, vision blurred. She lifted a hand to her forehead, eyes squeezing shut to attempt to clear the haze from them. Her work was not yet done, and she had not fought nearly so much to justify this weakness. She would not let herself slow down the others.

So she was determined, at least, until Thor caught sight of her, and then surged up close, taking her shoulders in hand with an infinite gentleness belied by the dangerous _thunk_ of Mjolnir's heavy weight striking ground and the blood coloring his silvered mail. "You are hurt," he said.

She tossed her head back, to attempt to dislodge the hair that had come loose from its binding and fallen forward into her face. The sharp movement only made it worse and her bicep flared with pain. "Nothing serious," she said.

Thor's fingers lowered to find her belly, the gash over it -- not deep, but long, and tangled with the thready edges where her leather armor had given way to the blade. "This needs attention."

"Later! Our mission is an important one," she snapped, starting to pull away, but she wobbled a second time and he caught her up against him.

Thor half-turned around without releasing her. In the distance the Warriors Three had retrieved their mounts and were already hefting themselves up again. "Go on ahead!" he called. "Sif has taken injury. We will catch up with you!"

Volstagg hesitated, exchanging a glance with the other two. "We can wait," he shouted back.

"No, go! There are no healing stones remaining, and that information must get to Father now! You are his guard!"

"I can travel," Sif said tightly, but Thor turned back to her with an implacable smile that made her heart skip a beat. "Once you are properly cared-for," he agreed.

She huffed out a breath as he steered her back to a rock, but she decided against protesting further. When Thor was determined it took truly excessive force to dissuade him, and if the Warriors Three would carry on ahead, then she supposed she had no need to worry about holding anyone back. Thor was not wrong to want her injuries tended now while they were still fresh -- it would be more painful to reopen them later, and they would heal quicker, cleaner this way.

Thor guided her to sit down, and then his lips curled up, saying, "You are being unusually cooperative, my lady. So weak from your injuries you cannot argue?"

"Lost in daydreams about putting you down violently," she said sweetly, but she spread out, slowly and carefully to avoid further aggravation of her injuries. Thor caught her hand and kissed it, his lips soft over her skin, and in spite of herself she melted. "...Were you not hurt?"

He shook his head. "I will not say I was never touched," he said, a rueful smile quirking over his lips. "But mostly blunt blows, and I doubt enough to leave their mark. _I_ was not the one who charged straight through the ranks to engage their leader and half their forces."

Sif reached up with her left arm to pull her ponytail loose, letting the rest of her hair fall in waves around her face. "You heard what he said to me," she declared, unrepentant.

"I did. And I winced, not envying him his fate." Thor laughed, but he remained focused on his task, unfastening the catches of her armor and gently prying it open. "He will not be making any more comments of that nature, certainly."

"He can see how the guardians of Hel appreciate them," she muttered.

He lifted her undershirt, and his fingers slipped over her skin, trying not to cause her any pain as he tested the bloody gash once more. She tightened her teeth against wincing or making any noise, but Thor drew back, whistling sharply for his mount. Years of training had the horse responding immediately to the signal, and it trotted over, pausing by Thor's side to let him rummage through the pack.

"Lie still," he said. "But talk to me. It will take your mind off the pain."

"I know how to handle a little pain," Sif told him crossly.

But truthfully she had to tilt her head back, at a loss for what to say, while Thor turned over a washcloth in his hands, emptying a small amount of water onto it. He knew all her stories, and she rarely bothered to hide her thoughts from anyone, and certainly not from him. She wanted to think of something that would be of interest to them both, so that he would not just be feigning indulgence.

While her thoughts raced, Thor brought the cloth to her side to clean the wound, as gently as he could. But still it stung, and she blurted, "I had a gift for magic."

That might have been too interesting a topic; it distracted Thor from what he was doing, and he looked up at her with eyes gone wide. "You did?"

She let out a breath, her fingers finding purchase in the rock and tightening there. She had hid this from everyone, never spoken of it in a thousand years. "Once," she murmured.

Thor started to shift back on his haunches before remembering himself, and bringing his attention back to her side. "You never had any training," he observed.

"It was not a broad talent to be trained, but a birthright," she murmured. "Like your command over the skies, only..."

His gaze was on her again, fingers dabbing the cloth over her wound without looking. Such birthrights were rare and often celebrated in Asgard -- but a fostered child without blood family might have slipped past everyone's notice, even such a highly-placed orphan as Sif, with a noble bloodline, raised in the very castle.

"...over land," she said, closing her eyes. "With my happiness I could make a field bloom -- speed the growth of any crop just by touching it -- even create plants from nothing. I felt the life in the earth, and how it called to me."

"That was an incredible gift, Sif," Thor said, his voice hushed. "Why did you keep it secret?"

Sif shook her head, sharply. "So that they could tell me that my place was to learn magic? Heimdall told me I would be -- a goddess of the harvest. I would have died rather than be put away in some cottage next to Idunn, so that I might be pampered and protected! I spent hundreds of years showing everyone that a woman could fight with the best of men; but magic is a _woman's art_. I would have been put in classes to study the elements and incantations from crumbling scrolls. I wanted to _fight_!"

The rush of adrenaline and the triumph of victory were irreplacable to her, the sense of unity with her closest friends, warriors all; she treasured the respect and admiration and notoriety that she had earned, proving to all of Asgard that their expectations for women needed adjustment. She would not sacrifice that for all the _flowers_ in all the realms.

Thor nodded, slowly. He busied himself with gauze, efficiently cutting off several strips to layer over the wound. As he placed them on, he murmured, "Still... I would like to see it, sometime."

Sif tensed slightly under his hands, and she stared at the horses milling behind him, patiently awaiting their riders to be finished with their business. "I cannot show you," she said, just as quiet. "I -- lost that ability, a long time ago." Gone with the beautiful wheat-golden hair that had held such life of its own, she suspected; but it had been a long time before that since she had last used her power, and a long time after before she thought to use it again.

Thor said nothing for a long beat, once again focused on his task. When the bandage was secured, he ducked down, pressing his lips lightly to the skin just above the bandage, lingering just enough to make her flush with awareness.

When he straightened again, he was smiling at her. "If that trade was necessary to make you the fierce warrior you are today, then it is no true loss."

Something in her chest eased. "You think so?" she asked, trying to keep it out of her voice.

"I do." He turned to the cut on her bicep, tending it more quickly; it was much smaller than the first. "You are... mesmerizing in battle, strong and skilled and defiant. It is a beauty unique to you, one that you fought for and earned with every step. A living valkyrie, a force of nature..."

"You can stop with your compliments before I swoon," Sif told him dryly, but she felt the heat only stronger in her face.

He fastened the bandage securely around her arm, and again his head dipped, kissing her shoulder sweetly. Then he looked up at her, smiling. "The fact that you were born with amazing gifts that did not suit you, and chose to leave them behind and become amazing at something else -- only makes what you are more amazing, Sif."

He said it the same way he would say, _Water is wet, Sif,_ as if it were an obvious fact that he could not believe she had not already known to be true. And he was a _great_ fool, she thought, but she still grabbed him by the tunic and dragged him close to kiss him, hard and hungry and full on the mouth, and he wrapped around her with eagerness to match.

Things might have gone a little farther than intended, with his broad hands stroking down her back to her hips, and hers tangling in his hair, before her quickening heartbeat made her feel dizzy again, and she had to break the kiss to close her eyes, turning away, rigidly steeling herself.

"Sif?" he asked, concerned and slightly out of breath.

"I think one of those blades might have been poisoned," she muttered.

"Are you well?"

It was a rare poison indeed that was powerful enough to affect an Asgardian for very long, especially one not intended for an Asgardian to begin with. She felt better than she had right after the battle ended, and so she assumed she would be well again shortly. She tossed her head back again and made a dismissive sound. "Like a little poison could stop me."

Thor chuckled, and admitted, "I suppose we should ride on." He offered her a hand, helping her back to her feet, and this time she stayed on them, stable.

As she swung into the saddle, he said, "Thank you for telling me," and he met her eyes, sincere and significant.

She might have slowed him down a little, but as usual, she fell into her familiar pace quickly enough, a smile on her lips.


End file.
